404 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JIKE8'-, 1839. 



BIRDS ON FARMS. 



Thj vahip of birds in districts settled ns tliickly 

 as thi; county of Pliiladelpiiia, Is appreciated by but 

 few individuals. Tlic beauty of their plumage de- 

 lights the eye ; their song cheers' th^ husbandman 

 in his toil, and gives a charm to the country which 

 no resident can too highly appreciate. The joyous 

 twitter of the swallow and the martin, the song of 

 the blue bird in the spring, the dolightful wild 

 notes of the partridge, the lark, the plover, the rob- 

 in, the thrush, the mocking-bird and the sparrow, 

 awaken an interest in those companions of the far- 

 mer, which should impel him to prompt and ener- 

 getic e.vertions for their preservation. And let me 

 ask, was there ever a time when these interesting 

 creatures demanded protection more than at the 

 present period .' In this county our farms are over- 

 run by parties of worthless boys, and more worth- 

 less men, who employ their time in destroying 

 whatever comes in their way. They break our 

 fences, alarm and very often injure our cattle ; 

 jeopardize the lives and limbs of our people, and 

 the teams with which they are at work, and many 

 of them do not hesitate to plunder us of our poultry 

 when an opportunity offers. They tread down our 

 crops and injure and annoy r.s in various ways, and 

 all for the ostensible purpose of destroying the few 

 birds which yet remain with us, which are not 

 worth to them the cost of the powder and shot used 

 in their destruction. When our horses are alarmed 

 and become unmanageable in consequence of their 

 firing, they very often refuse to abstain from what 

 they denominate their sport ; and my people have 

 been compelled to quit their work for fear of some 

 serious accident, and still they would persevere. — 

 Let us no longer submit to such annoyances and 

 injury, but assert our rights boldly and fearlessly. 

 There is a law which applies to this county, which, 

 if put in force, is abundantly sufficient to afford our 

 birds protection, and to rid us of this intolerable 

 nuisance. The value of birds to a fanner, few are 

 able to estimate. To say nothing of the songs of 

 those warblers, to which I always listen with de- 

 light, their value in the destruction of bugs, flies, 

 worms, and no.xious insects, is incalculable. The 

 swallow, the martin and many others, busily em- 

 ploy themselves in destroying mosquitoes, flies, 

 and other tenants of the air, which«nnoyus with 

 their sting, or injure us in oth-er rfspects. 



The robin, woodpecker, sapsucker, and various 

 other birds, protect our orchards, destroy the worn.s 

 and insects that there do us mischief, and in their 

 absence there is no little labor required to protect 

 and save the trees which their industry alone 

 would relieve us from. Besides, they do their work 

 better than we can. The presence of a worm in 

 a young tree is only indicated to us by the borings 

 thrown from the orifice made by his entrance, and 

 in removing them with a knife serious injury is 

 done to the tree. The bird, on the contrary, eats 

 the egg, destroys the worm when young, or if he 

 has avoided his vigilance and got under the bark, 

 nature has endowed the two last mentioned with a 

 strong bill with which to strike through the hark, 

 and long and rough tongues with which to drag the 

 lurking villain from his hiding place, and that too 

 with the least possible injury to the tree. W here 

 is the farmer who hos not seen his apple trees per- 

 forated along the whole length of their trunk by 

 these industrious laborers ; and who has not soon 

 such trees distingjished for their health and fruit- 

 fulness .' 



I can recollect when there were large orchards 



of healthy trees in part's of this county where it is 

 now almost a folly to attempt to rear an apple tree. 

 Those orchards that are near clumps of wood, may 

 still exist here, but where there is no such harbor 

 for birds designed for their preservation, it is in 

 vain to attempt to rear a tree and preserve it against 

 the destructive ravages of the insects that feed up- 

 on it. 



The partridge, the plover and lark, too, feed up- 

 on insects and labor diligently to promote the in- 

 terests of the farmer in de.stroying his enemies. — 

 What gives a man more pleasure than when walk- 

 ing over his grounds, he is welcomed by the shrill 

 whistle of tho partridge, who, grown familiar with 

 his friend and daily companion, cheers him in his 

 toil and delights him when at leisure ? 



These birds I have ofien seen so tame that they 

 would scarcely leave my path, and I remember a 

 covey that during one winter, would frequently 

 come to my gravel walk to receive the feed that 

 was placed there for them. They amounted to 

 about twenty, and I set a high value upon them ; 

 but there came upon my farm, during my absence, 

 two gunners with their dogs, and destroyed them 

 all. I assure you I felt the loss of those birds 

 more than I would that of the best horse in my sta- 

 ble. 



For myself, I feel in regard to my birds as the 

 ancients did of their household goods ; nor can I 

 control a feeling of indignation and a sense of inju- 

 r}-, when I see my neighbors or strangers wantonly 

 destroying them upon my premises. There arc 

 many depredators in our wheat fields that are de- 

 stroyed by the partridge, for it is on these he feeds. 

 The lark and the plover do their work in our grass 

 lands. The sparrow, blue-bird, wren and other 

 small birds, labor diligently in our gardens, orch- 

 ards and pleasure grounds, and they shoi^ild be wel- 

 comed as agreeable visiters by all who reside in 

 the country. 



Boxes for their accommodation should be nailed 

 to the trees, and by carefully avoiding to alarm 

 them, and oiher kind means, they could be domes- 

 ticated among us. They will otherwise take to 

 the woods and by- places, and we shall be deprived 

 of the pleasure of listening to their cheering songs, 

 and lose the advantages of their incessant labors. 



Farmers, think of this. Let us not be unkind 

 to our neighbors, nor deny them reasonable privi- 

 leges, but do not C(mtinue to refrain from e.xpress- 

 ing a sense of injury at their depredations, and of 

 making known to all the high value we set upon 

 our birds. — Farmers' Cabinet. 



MOWING. 



They who have not been in their youth accus- 

 tomed to do this work, are seldom found to be able 

 to do it with case or expedition. But when the art 

 i.s once leanit, it will not be lost- 



As this is one of the most laborious parts of the 

 husbandman's calling, and the more fatiguing, as it 

 must be performed in the hottest season of tlieyear, 

 every precaution ought to be used which tends to 

 lighten the labor. To this it will conduce not a 

 little, for the mower to rise very early, and be at 

 his work before the rising of the sun. He may 

 easily perform half the usual day's work before 

 nine in the morning. His work will not only be 

 made easier by the coolness of the morning air, but 

 also by the dew on the grass, which is cut the more 

 easily for being wet. By this means he may lie 

 still and rest himself during all the hottest of the 



day, while others who begun late are sweating 

 themselves extensively and hurting their health, 

 probably, by taking down large draughts of cold 

 drink to slake their raging thirst. The other half 

 of liis work may he performed after three or four 

 o'clock, and at night he will find himself more free 

 from fatigue. 



If the mower would husband his strength to ad- 

 vantage, he should take care to have his scythe 

 and all the apparatus for mowing in the best order. 

 His scythe ought to be adapted to the surface on 

 which he mows. If the surface be level and free 

 from obstacles, the scythe may be long and almost 

 straight, and he will perforin his work with less 

 labor and greater expedition. But if the surface 

 be uneven, cradley, or chequered with stones, or 

 stumps of trees, his scythe must be short and crook- 

 ed. Otherwise he will be obliged to leave much 

 of the grass uncut, or use more labor in cutting it. 

 A long and straight scythe will only cut off the 

 tops of the grass in hollows. 



A mower should not have a snead that is too 

 slender, for this will keep the scythe in a continual 

 tremor, and do much to hinder its cutting. He 

 must see that it keeps perfectly fast on the snead ; 

 for the least degree of looseness will oblige him to 

 use more violence at every stroke. Many worry 

 themselves needlessly by not attending to this cir- 

 cumstance. 



Mowing with a company ought to be avoided by 

 those who are not very strong, or who are little 

 used to the business, or who have not their tools 

 in the best order. Young lads who are ambitious 

 to be thought good mowers, often find themselves 

 much hurt by mowing in company. 



iMowers should not follow too closely after each 

 other, for this has been the occasion of fatal wounds. 

 And when the dangerous tool is carried from place 

 to place, it should be bound up with a rope of grass, 

 or otherwise carefully secured. — Ibid. 



Steam Plouf^h. — Among the new inventions in 

 France is one which is much talked of among spec- 

 ulators and manufacturers. It is a steam plough of 

 very peculiar construction, with which it is said 

 four miles of ground can be excavated v.ith an en- 

 gine of only eight horse power, to the depth of a 

 foot and the breadth of two feet, in a single hour. 

 The projector of the canal from Orleans to Nantes, 

 which, under ordinary circumstances, would require 

 at least five years for its construction, pretends that 

 in one year the whole would be completed by the 

 use of this machine, and that tlie saving in mere 

 interest of capital would amount to forty thousand 

 pounds sterling. A friend of mine, who is one of 

 the best engineers in Europe, tells me that he has 

 seen the instrument, and that with some ameliora- 

 tions he believes it would accomplish all that has 

 been stated. The earth as it is turned up is thrown 

 into a sort of sail, which throws it to a distance of 

 sixtj feet — Letter Corr. Gardener's Gazette. 



What can be more curious than the circumstance 

 that when the potato is propagated by cuttings, 

 these cuttings will produce roots of the same qual- 

 ity ; but when it is propagated by seed, scarcely 

 two roots resemble each other. This is the case 

 generally of trees and plants.' A cutting of the 

 golden pippin will produce a golden pippin ; a seed 

 of the same tree will produce a crab. If it were 

 not for this law of nature against us, we might per- 

 petuate all fruits Farmer's Magazine. 



